Collin Morikawa and Matt Fitzpatrick Talk Humble Beginnings, Handling Pressure and the Upcoming U.S. Open
In advance of last week’s Memorial, Sports Illustrated spent some time with two Rolex Testimonees: two-time major-winner Collin Morikawa and defending U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.
The wide-ranging interview was conducted last Monday afternoon in the Muirfield Village clubhouse by SI Golf’s Alex Miceli. At the Memorial Tournament, Fitzpatrick would go on to tie for ninth, while Morikawa withdrew Sunday morning with back spasms.
Fitzpatrick has been a Rolex Testimonee since 2016, Morikawa since earlier this year. Rolex is no stranger to golf—its enduring relationship with the game began almost 60 years ago, in 1967, with Arnold Palmer, joined by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. In ’80, Rolex became the Official Timekeeper of the U.S. Open to support its efforts to grow interest and inclusion in golf. Through this partnership, Rolex is currently present at all four men’s majors, and as a company it’s focused on innovation, pushing the boundaries and continuous improvement—which also lines up with how Fitzpatrick and Morikawa approach their careers. The players also have some pretty stylish watches on their wrists, which they discuss.
But before teeing up at Jack’s place, the two young stars talked about their junior golf dreams, dealing with fame and the upcoming Ryder Cup. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Sports Illustrated: The 2017 Walker Cup was at Los Angeles Country Club, which you were in. You played with Norman Xiong, who was then a freshman at Oregon. And there was also Braden Thornberry, who had won the NCAA, plus Cameron Champ, Doug Ghim, Maverick McNealy, Doc Redman, Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris.
Matt Fitzpatrick: Terrible team.
SI: Half those guys are not really anywhere to be found right now. When you look back, it seems so hard to believe that it can be so fleeting so fast, isn’t it?
Collin Morikawa: First name you brought up, Norman Xiong. I mean, I think he was the kid that can’t miss. I think we all believed that he was the guy that would turn pro later that fall and make waves out on the PGA Tour. I think it’s such a fine line when you tee it up on the PGA Tour, when you tee it up in major championships, it’s so small sometimes you can't even decipher what it is.
We're trying to figure out what that is and what will make us play better in this tournament or that tournament in the future. But how do you keep doing that on a constant basis? How do you keep that consistency up? So, yeah, you look at that team, and we got off to fairly good starts as a pro, but some have obviously taken it to different levels.
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SI: So, LACC, you got to see it after the renovation by Gil Hanse. You were pretty much the first ones to see it. What did you think? How do you think it fits your game?
CM: When you go 4 and 0, I love it. [Morikawa went 4–0 on that 2017 Walker Cup team.] I have a lot of good memories and I think that’s always a good thing. You know, look at what Fitzpatrick has done, at The Country Club out in Brookline. [Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Am at that venue in ’13 and won the U.S. Open last summer.] There are good memories. So, whether you like it or dislike it, you’re gonna have good memories with good shots, good tee shots, good putts.
It’s a course I think you can split it up into kind of threes. The first eight holes are very gettable. When you start to get to 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, even 14, the par-5, it plays very tough. You get into the last part of the back nine, 17, 18 is a tough stretch of holes.
SI: You go 4 and 0. Fitzpatrick is on the other continent on that Sunday, playing in a playoff against Scott Hend during the European Masters.
CM: Did you win it?
MF: I did, yeah, I did.
CM: Nice.
SI: I think it was your fourth win at that point.
MF: Yeah, it was.
SI: At that moment you’re so young. Here’s Collin, still in college.
MF: Collin’s just a baby.
CM: Yeah, 2017.
SI: And here you are winning your fourth event on the European tour?
MF: Yeah, wow. That’s really strange. I think we were talking earlier, Alex, you know, I’m saying that this year or next year is gonna be my 10th year on a professional tour, which is kind of odd, really.
Just crazy how fast time’s gone. And back then, at that stage of my career, to say that I had four wins, I would’ve been obviously over the moon with it.
SI: Let’s go back to 2013 at The Country Club. You decided to go to college. You took a coffee break at Northwestern.
MF: Three months, thank you.
CM: That’s real college.
MF: Three whole months.
SI: And then all of a sudden, you're out on the European tour. And Chubby Chandler was your agent, right?
MF: He was, yeah.
SI: Amazing. So, you win four times, did you think you’d have that success so early?
MF: Honestly, probably not. I knew once I won the U.S. Amateur, played some professional tournaments as an amateur, I still felt there was a lot for me to get better at.
Putting was my strength. I was accurate off the tee, but I was short and turning pro at that time, at 19. So, I was still growing, and I felt like I still had a lot of time to develop.
I did feel that it was probably gonna take time, but things happened a lot faster than I anticipated. I feel very lucky with the coaches that I’ve got their support, their knowledge, and along with me working hard as well. I think it was a good combination to come straight out on tour.
SI: We always ask as journalists if there’s like a seminal moment where things changed—working with a coach, getting married, having kids. Was there a moment for you?
CM: I think you’re leading me into saying getting married.
SI: No, I’m not. I’m not.
MF: Make sure you say it if Kat’s watching.
CM: Yeah, getting married [Laughs.]. That’s a tough one. No one would ever point to this; I would say when I earned my tour card at John Deere in 2019. I was getting all these sponsor exemptions throughout the summer. Obviously, the goal is to get my PGA Tour card, earn enough points to get my card for the following year. And the week before I had lost to Matt Wolff on the 18th hole. He made eagle, I made birdie, lost by one.
I was close to getting enough points. Finished fourth at the John Deere and secured my status for the PGA Tour. And obviously it’s a big moment. It’s like earning your card on the Korn Ferry Tour. It’s like winning your first PGA tour tournament. I ended up winning two weeks after that, but knowing that I had secured it and done what I wanted to do, I had my goal set. I was on the right path.
MF: Collin’s obviously already achieved a hell of a lot, and he hasn’t been out here for that long. And myself, I feel like obviously being here a fair bit now, I feel like I’ve had quite a few ups and downs. I certainly think my win at British Masters was a big kick start in my first year out on tour.
Honestly, 2019 was a big year for me. I didn’t win that year, but I had Billy [Foster] on the bag, and that kind of added another coach to my team. I kind of just took another step forward to competing over here in the States. And that was the year, same deal, really, that I got my card out here and started to feel comfortable.
🗣️: BRING BACK THE OLIVE PANTS! 😂@Collin_Morikawa sets the story straight with us at the @MemorialGolf. pic.twitter.com/0s45KxbAJ3
— SI Golf (@SI_Golf) June 5, 2023
SI: When we talked at the PGA Championship about how there are two Matt Fitzpatrick careers: before and after you added distance. Do you agree?
MF: I definitely agree with that. Last year obviously was the best year of my career, best year of my life, really. The two big aspects were I put a ton of yardage on, and I hit my irons much better than I ever have done. So, I think those two combined with my other strength of putting, it just took me to another level, which ideally you aim to maintain and build upon.
It’s not always easy to do. So, I definitely think you are right, once I got a bit of extra length, that made a big difference.
SI: What is it about the 9th hole at Colonial and you?
CM: Are you talking about last week?
MF: I saw your tweet.
Anyone want to guess my least favorite hole for the week? 🫠 pic.twitter.com/CTI2XfTtcB
— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) May 28, 2023
CM: Yeah. I don’t know. I mean if I play that even par we’re one shot off the lead. So, I mean, it’s not a hard golf hole at all.
SI: Most of us would not actually call to the attention of the Twitter public that we completely just bamboozled the 9th hole for three of the four days. Or for four.
CM: Oh, for four. I didn’t make par. I was seven over on one golf hole for four days. Hit the fairway once.
MF: That’s wild.
SI: At any point did you think that you might have it whipped?
CM: I thought the final day, I was like, we’re gonna turn this around.
MF: This is it.
CM: I was 1 under, took 5-wood off the tee. I had hit driver and tried to play it fairly aggressive the first three days.
And I was like, Wow, perfect 9-iron straight in the water. I’m glad they’re tearing up that golf course and redoing it. It’ll be like it never happened.
SI: Let’s go back to playing when you’re a kid. Are you really serious that this is your goal in the end?
MF: No, I didn’t think, when you’re a kid … I don’t know, Collin might be different.
I don’t feel like you think about having a job, let alone playing golf for a living. So, no, I was kind of like, I just kept playing golf until it was like, well, what do I do now? Do you know what I mean? And then winning the U.S. Amateur obviously gave me a lot of opportunities, and then it’s like, O.K., well, this is kind of serious now.
And then you just carry on with it. But not as a young kid. I’m not thinking my job’s going to be a professional golfer. I have no idea what I’m gonna do at that age.
CM: It’s a little different. I’d say like 10, 11 is kind of when I stopped playing other sports. I wanted to give golf a full shot.
It sucked. I mean, I practiced by myself. You were out on the golf course trying to figure it out, trying to practice. It’s not like I was out there working on mirrors and putting out Trackmans. I was just playing golf.
You see all the time, parents and juniors are comparing careers and comparing paths of how you get there. There’s not one path to get there. And I think that’s something that you have to really embrace as a junior.
But yeah, it’s, it’s something I wanted to do. When you’re a kid, you don’t realize how hard it is to make it to the PGA Tour or how hard it is to win a major or to win out here as a professional golfer. You just think, oh, I’ll just keep getting better every day, and, hopefully, you know, my best is gonna be good enough.
And you just keep working harder and harder and work on the things that you think you need to get better at. It was just a slow progression of every day, how do I get a little bit better? How do I add that up and compound that day after day? And you slowly start to see the results.
For me, it was the Western Junior when I was 15. You win a big junior event that puts you out on the stage. That puts you out on the scene, and you build off of that. And that’s kind of how the realization comes to be.
SI: The course you grew up on, which I can’t say very well, Hallamshire. What did you take from that course that you bring to professional golf today?
MF: Oddly enough I feel there’s a lot of things, really. I always felt like it was a tight driving course. It’s on a small piece of land; the greens are really small.
If you miss the green, your short game’s gotta be good. And the biggest one of all, I think for myself was, it was always windy. It didn’t matter what day, middle of summer, it was just always, always windy, 15 mph minimum.
You’re learning to keep your ball under the wind the whole time. And I think that was the biggest thing, kind of 2013 to 2015. My attack angle is way steeper than everyone else because I’m just used to keeping the flight of the ball way down. So I think that was probably the biggest factor.
SI: Collin, you played on a 10-hole course as a kid. What did you take from that course that you bring to the PGA Tour?
CM: The complete opposite. That’s why I was laughing when he said at least 15 mph winds. I mean, growing up in Los Angeles if it was windy, you stayed home. You saw clouds and you didn’t want to be out there. We’ll see that at the U.S. Open this year.
I think a lot of people know me for my ball striking and my iron play, and that’s what that course kind of gave me. It was a creative golf course, very narrow fairways. The first hole was a 500-yard par-5, but a 12-yard fairway that’s sloped left to right into OB-right trees. So, you had to be able to work the ball and keep it in the fairway.
A few doglegs, short holes. So, it got that creativeness out of me to be able to work shots. Was I able to work on my short game as much as he probably did growing up? No, but you know, you learn, and you start playing everywhere around the country, around the world.
You just learn how to be able to compete and at least get to where you need to be. So, that course really just taught me to be creative.
SI: I’ve told some folks that I was doing this interview, and they’re like, "wow, that’s interesting. What kind of personality are those guys really like?"
CM: I think what you see on TV is really who I am. It’s funny, this kid two weeks ago told me to smile, and I’m like, oh, maybe I need a smile more.
But I think that’s what people kind of know me for. I’m a pretty laid-back guy. I’m as straightforward as it gets. I’m pretty mellow. I don’t really go out of my way to speak my mind too much. It’s nowhere near some of the guys out there, but we still get recognized, especially when you’re out at a tournament. People know there’s a golf tournament going on. I just try to live my life as normal as it can be.
What I’ve been able to do and been able to achieve so far, it’s been amazing. But hopefully it hasn’t changed who I am, and that’s who I want to stay and continue to be. It doesn’t mean I can’t grow as a person and learn new things and be open to new things, but, for me, I’m a laid-back guy. I just enjoy my small things in life and just kind of go forward.
SI: You live in Vegas, right?
CM: Yeah. Oh, it’s very, very laid back. Thank you.
SI: I’m just trying to understand the parallels.
CM: Me getting my Berkeley education and Matt being, you know, his three months, whatever they give you for three months at Northwestern.
MF: A goodbye wave.
CM: I’m a Dodger fan, I’m a Laker fan. I’ll always be a California guy. Vegas is pretty appealing, know a bunch of guys out there. I’ve got a good place to practice at, the Summit, and I know he lives in Jupiter. A lot of guys do. I hate it.
MF: Tell us how you really feel.
SI: You’re pretty much a lock for the Ryder Cup team in Italy.
MF: Is this being shown before or after?
SI: If not, I’m sure Luke Donald would be more than happy to pick you, but unfortunately, your record is not very stellar in the Ryder Cup.
MF: Yep. Where’s this going?
CM: I’m curious. I don’t know.
SI: 0-5-0. But in some cases it’s who you get saddled with as a partner.
CM: Hey, you gotta pick a good partner.
SI: Exactly. But that being said, are you apprehensive at all about the Ryder Cup?
MF: No, not really. I think there’s multiple ways of looking at it. I’ve only ever played my own ball twice, those five matches. The first one I’ll fully admit, I don’t think I was ready for 2016. I was only 22 years old, and I think that was a big thing. I had never played a four-ball match.
To be fair, the last one, me and Daniel Berger had a hell of a match. We were plenty under par, and I just had a bad last hole. So, I’m not really too worried. I feel like I’m a very different player from 2021. I’m just looking forward to it. It’ll be a fantastic week. Rome’s an incredible city, and I’m just looking forward to playing a home game.
SI: The U.S. has not won overseas since before you were born. Scottie Scheffler said that you guys talked about this in Wisconsin afterwards, that you definitely wanted to go to Rome and bring back the cup. How will you do it?
CM: Yeah, look, I’ve gotta earn my way on that team. There are a lot of great players on the U.S. side that are playing really well, and I haven’t done my part. Earning a top-six spot is the goal. You want to make that team. Getting picked is obviously an honor, but making that team is very special. And yeah, after what we did at Whistling Straits a couple years ago, I think we know what we need to do.
We’ve had the right game plan. We’ve also been able to play a Presidents Cup last year, so we’ve been able to play together again. It won’t necessarily be the same team, but you see a lot of familiar faces.
I think looking back at that history, I don’t know what they did back then, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go and do it. It gives us an opportunity to go and be that team to take it from these guys over there on their soil.
SI: I want to ask you about your Rolex.
MF: Mine is a GMT.
SI: Which means?
MF: Well, GMT is Greenwich Mean Time [Laughs.]. I like this one. It has two time zones, so handy for me because my parents are at home. I can see what time it’s in Sheffield.
SI: Let’s talk about the back of that watch.
MF: I ordered this before I won the U.S. Open. And then when I won the U.S. Open, I figured it was quite convenient that the face is red, white, and blue. And I know Shane Lowry had his Rolex engraved with the Open Championship trophy. As soon as I saw that he did it, I said, “Well, if I’m ever lucky enough to win one, then that’s a hundred percent what I’m gonna do.” So, that was my first thought. And it worked out very well.
SI: Collin, you have an opportunity. You can pick one of two trophies.
MF: Must be nice.
CM: Yeah, I’ve got no trophies on mine. I’ve got a Rolex Daytona. I think this represents who I am. I think it’s sleek. His is red, white and blue, and this goes under the radar. A lot of people know about Daytonas, but a lot of people like the Panda one, the white dial, the black bezel or the black one, the steel one.
This is just a steel dial, so it’s pretty; it goes under the radar, and that’s kind of who I am. So I think this just kind of represents me as a person.
See the full video interview below: